The turtle and its adversaries: polyvocality in A.S. Byatt's critical and academic work -- The Shadow of the Sun: the lady of Shalott or the writer as genius -- The Game: Cassandra or the writer as proto-feminist visionary -- Possession: melusine or the writer as serpent woman.
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"This book considers the criticism and fiction of A.S. Byatt in the context of contemporary debates about art, authorship, creativity and gender. Tracing the highly productive ways in which Byatt's work moves in and out of Leavisite criticism, post-structuralism and feminism, Christien Franken highlights the ambivalences that are so central to Byatt's aesthetic. A.S. Byatt emerges as an author who presents us with original insights into the transcendence of art, the violence of the imagination, the complex nature of creative genius and women's access to art and authorship. The author shows how Byatt constructs fascinating portraits of creative women, based on the myths of the serpent woman Melusine and the visionary Cassandra, and Tennyson's Lady of Shalott. The metaphors of creativity which dominate Byatt's portraits of writers, such as water, light and glass, are read in the context of the work of the philosopher Luce Irigaray."--Jacket.
Byatt, A. S., (Antonia Susan),1936-Criticism and interpretation.
Byatt, A. S., (Antonia Susan),1936-Criticism and interpretation.
Byatt, A. S., (Antonia Susan),1936-
Byatt, A.S.,1936-.
Women and literature-- England-- History-- 20th century.